Northwest Financial Corp. has hired Jeff Plagge as the company’s new president. Plagge is currently chairman, CEO and president of Chariton-based Midwest Heritage Bank, a position he has held since 2006. He will begin his new position with Northwest Financial on Sept. 15. Northwest Financial, with $1.25 billion in assets, is among the largest Iowa-based bank holding companies, with 28 offices in Iowa and Nebraska. The company is based in Arnolds Park. Read the full Business Record story.

Workers are on the job fewer hours, resulting in productivity gains that haven’t been seen since the third quarter of 2003, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Productivity picked up 6.3 percent in the business sector and 6.4 percent in the non-farm business sector during the second quarter, the BLS said. The manufacturing sector saw a 5.3 percent increase. Compared with the second quarter of 2008, hours worked declined 7.1 percent in the business sector, 7.3 percent in the non-farm business sector and 13.9 percent in manufacturing, the BLS report said.

Congressman Leonard Boswell will hold a small business forum from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Lakeside Fellowship Building, 213 W. Broadway St., Polk City. Representatives from the Small Business Administration, Women’s Resource Network and SCORE will also be on hand for the forum, which will focus on starting a business.

Eight finalists for the 2009 John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition have been selected from an already narrowed field of 26. Each business will interview with a panel of judges on Sept. 11 and three finalists will be selected to make a 15-minute presentation to the judges on Oct. 6. A $25,000 prize will be awarded for the first-place team, $15,000 for second place and $10,000 for third place.

Mediacom Communications Corp. has been named the country’s best cable operator by CableFAX, a leading industry publication, for a year that saw Mediacom expand its work force and post a record gain of 222,000 revenue generating units (RGUs). Mediacom was also the top-performing cable stock in 2008. In the first half of 2009, the company has continued to grow RGUs, and its stock is up more than 30 percent for the year to date.